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	Government Still Failing Aboriginal Children Ottawa Citizen June 2, 2008 http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/letters/story.html?id=2f0ad6ca-5d0c-4f30-818f-14e0df39f549 Re: PM to apologize for residential schools, May 16. As the prime minister prepares to apologize to Aboriginal peoples for the multi-generational harms of residential schools, it is an opportunity for the Ottawa Citizen to re-publish the article authored by Dr. Peter H. Bryce, Health Officer for the Department of Indian Affairs, that appeared in the Citizen on Nov. 15, 1907. Dr. Bryce surveyed the health of Aboriginal children in 15 residential schools and found that about one in every two students were dying at the schools from preventable spread of disease. Despite Dr. Bryce's articles and his continued advocacy for over 20 years, the federal government did little to improve the situation for First Nations children and the deaths continued. There is no doubt the federal government knew of the deaths -- and the historical record says they did almost nothing to stop it. There is also no doubt that Canadians should celebrate the many Aboriginal peoples who advocated to stop the deaths and abuses and non-Aboriginal people like Dr. Bryce who joined them in the struggle. Today, there are three times the number of First Nations in child welfare care than there were at the height of residential schools. The cause is neglect fueled by poor housing, poverty and caregiver substance misuse, often linked to the residential schools and complicated by the fact First Nations children and young people get far fewer government and voluntary sector services than other Canadians. The Auditor General of Canada reports that the federal government is short changing First Nations children on reserves by under-funding child welfare services. Again, the federal government has known about this for years and has done very little to improve the situation. In fact, the auditor general has reviewed the "new Alberta" approach the feds are proposing to deal with the inequity and found it to be inequitable. If reconciliation means saying sorry twice, the federal government is failing. On the day of the apology, Canadians need to demand that the federal government ensures equity, respect, and justice for First Nations children. Cindy Blackstock, Ottawa
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